Checkmate

by Annmarie McKenna

  Besides owning their own security business and genuinely knowing how to protect her, they were wolves. She considered that an added advantage. Nikki smiled, remembering the furry beast snuggled up to her outside in the grass the night she couldn’t sleep.

  At first, she’d been shocked, but then, when she’d looked deep into those beautiful golden eyes, she’d known it was him and her fear had disappeared. She’d felt none when he’d shifted back into his human form either. He was who he was and it only made her love him more.

  After towel-drying her hair, Nikki stood in front of the foggy mirror and surveyed her naked body. The red, angry scratch on her shoulder ached with memories both raw and ugly. The jagged scar across her cheek seemed to pulse, forever reminding her of the past. Eli didn’t care about her looks or what had nearly happened to her that stormy night.

  Suddenly, she didn’t either. Since coming to his home, she hadn’t even thought about her face. Well, except when his mom had brought it up, but afterward she hadn’t tried to hide it or hide from it. Eli made her feel that way. His perception of her hadn’t changed because three men had tried to rape her, leaving her feeling dirty and sorry for herself. Instead, he’d claimed her to use his word. She bit her lip. Nothing could top the way he looked at her like he wanted to devour her. She had no reason not to believe him when he talked of their future together. Especially not after meeting his mother and hearing Tieran.

  Her heart thudded and she gripped the towel in one hand while wiping the mirror with the other. A fat drop of water fell from her eyelash. She tried to look deep inside herself but all she saw was her reflection.

  With shaky fingertips, Nikki ran her fingers atop the faint bite mark marring her shoulder. She still couldn’t believe he’d bitten her. Nor that he’d done it more than once and she didn’t care. Not when he had his cock embedded deep in her pussy and her clit screaming for release.

  She wished he were here to help dry her off. There wouldn’t be much drying happening with his insatiable cock throbbing just inches away, but it would be fun foreplay.

  Shaking off the vision of him bending her over the counter and taking her from behind was a delicious effort. She yanked her toothbrush out of the holder and squeezed a dollop of toothpaste on it. For the first time in all these long months she finally felt in control of her destiny. A destiny she had thought gone for good.

  Nikki wiped again at the mirror, smearing her image with the condensation gathered there. Outside the bathroom she heard the click of the bedroom door opening and a pained voice call out.

  “Nikki?”

  Shit. Tieran sounded more than desperate. Nikki threw her T-shirt over her still-damp body and hurried through the door to find out what was wrong. She stopped short when she saw the fear etched on Tieran’s face.

  “Eli’s gone too?” Her teeth were ground together, her lips pinched so tight they were white, and her eyebrows were scrunched together.

  Please God, don’t let her be having this baby. What the hell could she do? She didn’t know anything about babies other than they smelled sweet, cried a lot and pooped.

  Nikki crossed the room with long, quick strides. “What’s wrong, Tieran?”

  Not the baby, not the baby.

  “The baby. It’s coming.”

  Son of a…

  Nikki grabbed hold of Tieran’s arm when she slumped against the doorframe and doubled over as a fresh wave of whatever seized her. One of Tieran’s hands reached out and captured Nikki’s forearm. Ragged fingernails dug into her flesh. Nikki’s eyes rolled and she bit her lip to keep from shouting in pain.

  It seemed like an hour before Tieran’s grasp loosened and blood flowed once again into Nikki’s hand. She flexed her fingers to aid the process. Slowly Tieran righted herself using the wall next to her as leverage. Her pale face blended in with the white walls.

  “Where is that hairy-assed bastard when I need him?” Tieran wailed.

  Nikki bit back a smile. Tieran was one tough cookie but she would never call her mate a hairy-assed bastard if she wasn’t in so much pain. Well, at least not behind his back. She might say it to his face. Or was she talking about Eli?

  “Umm…Caelan?”

  “No,” Tieran ground out. “He had to go to some pack thing in the middle of the night. Where’s Eli?” she growled on another wave of labor pain.

  Shit. This was bad. Very bad. “I believe he’s at the same thing. I think Caelan called him earlier this morning.” Damn why hadn’t she woken up enough to listen instead of arguing because she’d wanted to go back to sleep? Both of them were hairy-assed bastards.

  Tieran’s nostrils flared with her deep intake of breath. “It’s coming so fast, Nikki. I think we need to go.” Tears welled in her eyes. “No one ever said it would be like this. I thought I would have a long time, all day, all night. Oh my God, I’m going to have this baby here at the house.”

  “Tieran!” Nikki yelled. “Take a breath, honey. Breathe.” She motioned with her hand in a circle. Dumb jackasses, leaving her here with a hysterical pregnant woman. Who did they think she was, Wonder Woman?

  Nikki left Tieran standing next to the door and hurried around the room, dressing in whatever clothes she could find. Her bra stuck out from beneath the bed where Eli had flung it last night, one sock had landed on the lampshade, the other across the room on the arm of the big chair, and her jeans…where the fuck were her jeans?

  She swung her gaze over the room. There, hanging on the doorknob of the closet door. In a moment of insanity, Nikki cocked her head and raised an eyebrow. How the hell had they managed to get there? Yanking the jeans off the tenuous perch, she ran to the dresser and pulled out a skimpy pair of underwear.

  “Umm, okay, how far apart are the…contraction thingies?” Her underwear refused to cooperate with her warm moist skin and Nikki nearly left them off.

  A tiny smile creased Tieran’s lips. “About ten minutes, I guess.” Her voice wobbled.

  An alarm went off in Nikki’s brain. Damn. That was pretty close together, wasn’t it? How far apart were they supposed to be, and shit, how close together would they get at the last second? She battled with her jeans, hopping on one foot to try and get the second leg on.

  “But my water broke twenty minutes ago, and since Caelan was gone I came to get Eli.”

  Nikki stood, her lungs heavy from the exertion of getting dressed quickly, and stared at the almost unflappable woman Nikki knew Tieran to be who was now in tears.

  She was so going to kill Caelan. And Eli for that matter for leaving her with a heavily pregnant woman.

  Nikki held up a hand when Tieran’s lower lip quivered. “Never mind. We can do this, Tieran. We are two grownup, capable, able-bodied women and somehow we will do this.” She snapped her fingers and raised one in the air. “I’ll call Judith. She can meet us at the hospital.” Eli’s mother would know exactly what to do. Hell she’d done it with twins. Feeling rather proud, Nikki inhaled and relaxed. Everything would be fine. She would call Judith right now.

  Tieran shook her head. “She’s out of town, remember?”

  “Oh, for the love of…” Nikki plopped down on the big chair and jerked her socks and tennis shoes on.

  “I think we’ll have to go alone, Nik. I know you’re not supposed to leave the house, but…”

  Nikki held up a hand. “Wait just a minute. I don’t think they planned on having an emergency birth, do you? You’re what two, three weeks early? Caelan wouldn’t have left this morning if he’d thought you were going to go into imminent labor. Of course I’ll go with you.” She stripped her arms out of the T-shirt so the cotton hung loosely over her chest, and wrapped her bra around her. After catching the clasp together in the front, she twisted it until the cups were covering the appropriate tiny mounds of flesh that really didn’t need a bra and slipped her arms through the straps. A second later she was both completely dressed and discombobulated.

  Raking her hands through her hair, she rushed into the bathr
oom and thrust her deodorant under the shirt, swiping it across her underarms for the barest amount of coverage to get her through the day. Perfect.

  “I still don’t want to put you in any danger. Trust me,” Tieran murmured. “You don’t want to put your faith in the wrong person.”

  “You saying I can’t trust you, woman?”

  That earned Nikki a semblance of a smile, even though she knew exactly what Tieran was referring to. A certain cop who had turned on the pack and betrayed every one of them, ultimately landing Eli under arrest for a large list of felonies including murder. The whole thing still made Nikki see red and she hadn’t even been around then except as a friend.

  “Eli is gonna be pissed,” Tieran said with a sniff.

  “Yeah, well Eli should be here then, shouldn’t he? Tieran, look, if he’s mad, I’ll deal with him. Morales said I was safe, I have to believe that right now. I hardly think Eli or Caelan would want anything to happen to you or the baby. Now, if your water broke already, isn’t it like really close to time?” Nikki reached out and took hold of one of Tieran’s hands. “I don’t know nothin’ about birthin’ no babies, Tieran, and I really don’t want to.”

  Tieran nodded. “Okay.”

  “Besides, we’ll be at a hospital. What could possibly happen there?”

  “You don’t really want me to answer that do you?” Tieran asked, coming to a stop as Nikki pulled her out the door.

  “No.” She didn’t need to answer. Nikki remembered all too well what could happen. But they’d caught the guy, right? “And besides, no one will know I’m there today, will they?” She hoped. “I’ll put a hat on if that makes you feel any better.” She’d have to try and convince herself she had nothing to worry about.

  Tieran’s gaze searched Nikki’s face and she held on to the stoic look, wanting to convince her they would be all right. After a brief pause, Tieran agreed and they were off.

  “I’ll call Eli on the way and have them meet us there. Since they’re at the same place, they can come together,” Nikki said over her shoulder.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Eli snatched the phone from the console. Two more minutes and he’d be home. His chest was tight with anticipation, that’s all. Not something else. Certainly not a feeling of dread like the shit was about to hit the fan. Nikki was safe at home and the pack business had been handled smoothly. An issue over a boundary line had turned into a squabble that had taken both Caelan’s Prime abilities as well as Eli’s Second.

  He could taste Nikki already. The feel of her firm, budded nipples on his tongue, the velvety softness of her skin, and he was hard as a rock beneath the button-fly of his jeans.

  The caller ID window displayed “one message”. His eyebrows came together. How the fuck had he missed a phone call? When he’d been pumping gas? He was just about to flip the phone open to see who’d called when its shrill ring filled the car. The message was replaced with a number he recognized and the feeling of apprehension slammed into him full force.

  There were only two reasons Morales would be calling and one of them sucked.

  “Morales, what’s up?”

  “We’ve found our leak.”

  Make that both of them sucked. Eli sat up straighter from his slouched driving position. “And?”

  “And he admitted to tipping off the press about Ms. Taylor being at the station. His ass is about to be fried, trust me.”

  “You better hope you get to him before I do.”

  “He’s already been gotten to, Mr. Graham. Caught red-handed. That’s not all.”

  Eli’s heart slammed against his ribs, threatening to break them at the implied threat. “What the fuck’s going on?”

  He heard Morales’ sigh. “This cop had a bit of a gambling problem. We discovered he’s done this sort of thing more than once to make a little money on the side. Apparently he’s been a go-to mole for a while. Somebody needs something covered up, he’s the man. Need some info, he’ll be there for you.”

  “So?” Eli asked when Morales paused for a second too long. He wanted to strangle the detective for being obtuse.

  “He was contacted Saturday, looking for information on Nicole Taylor.”

  “Son of a bitch.” The car swerved wildly to the side. Eli fought to control it, taking the phone off his ear so he could steer with both hands. If that cop was a shifter, he was a dead one.

  Eli heard Morales repeating his name as he pulled onto the shoulder and brought the car to a shuddering halt.

  “You there?”

  “I’m here.” Seeing a red haze, but I’m here.

  “He rolled on a lot of information he’d given out in exchange for a plea bargain for a lesser sentence. He says he feels guilty for getting Nicole’s picture on the news and figured with the timing of this guy’s request, it had to have something to do with the news report.”

  “You think?” Eli yelled into the phone.

  “You know, I’m not happy about this situation myself. It’s my witness he’s dipping in the grease.”

  “I don’t give a shit about your witness, she’s my mate.”

  There was a silent pause he could have cut with a knife and Eli realized his mistake.

  “Mate?”

  “Yes, mate,” Eli growled, “as in I love her and she’s stuck with me forever.” Hopefully his quick thinking would divert the detective’s attention.

  “Ah. I see. I didn’t realize you two were that close.”

  Damn. Eli blew out a silent breath and hung his head, wiping the sweat from his brow. Not in his entire life had he slipped about what he was until now.

  “We are,” he said wearily. “I would give my life to save hers.”

  “I see. Then keep her away from doctors.”

  Eli jerked his head up. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “It wasn’t the boyfriend,” Morales said gravely.

  Motherfucker. He knew he shouldn’t have left her alone this morning. He wanted to scream. He wanted to shift and tear something apart. “How do you know?”

  “The reason he was out of town was because he was meeting with his parole officer in another state. He shouldn’t be anywhere near here but it seems as long as he showed up for his scheduled meetings, no one thought to check up on him.”

  Morales continued, “We’ve learned some things through the profiler involved in the case.” Eli heard the shuffling of papers. “He thinks the killer does have some sort of medical background.”

  Eli straightened in his seat. “Then he could still be an employee at the hospital.”

  The detective audibly sucked in a breath. “That’s a hell of a leap, Mr. Graham.”

  Eli shook his head. “How can you say that? He knew we were at that hospital.”

  “So did the rest of the world,” Morales said dryly.

  “He knew enough about her to find her there.”

  “Probably wouldn’t have been hard.”

  “And he knew when she was leaving. He fucking waited for her,” Eli insisted.

  A sigh was his only reply.

  “We didn’t tell anyone we were leaving and were, in fact, very careful in getting her out of there. So you tell me. How in the hell could he have been there waiting in that wing without having been there all along and watching us? If he worked there, he would have blended right in and not caused suspicion in anyone.”

  “You’re right. I totally agree with your assessment, however, do you know how many medical employees work at that hospital? Do you know how many hospitals are in this area?”

  Eli sat forward. “It’s your job to look into each and every one of them.”

  “Don’t tell me how to do my job.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it,” Eli snarled.

  “Look, our profiler has tagged him as being in the medical field. This idiot contacted our leak on his cell phone. We’re in the process right now of triangulating the signal. When we find out where he called from, we’ll have a better idea of where to start l
ooking. All I’m saying is keep Ms. Taylor close for a little while longer until we find this guy.”

  “I won’t let her out of my sight.” Again. “Let me know when you get something.” Damn this would kill Nikki. This morning he had a strong suspicion she was ready for freedom. From her confines and her fear.

  “I will,” Morales answered.

  Eli slapped the flip closed. “Fuck,” he shouted and willed his heart into a normal rhythm. He was about to throw the phone into the passenger seat when he remembered there was a message he needed to check.

  He opened it again and followed the commands to retrieve the message. According to the time stamp he’d missed the call almost thirty minutes ago. Tieran’s harried voice hit him like a sledgehammer between the eyes and made his heart pound.

  “Tieran’s in labor. Had to take her to the hospital. We called Derek to meet us there. Tell you more later. Love you. Oh, and we’re fine. I’ll make sure to stay with Der at all times just for you. Bye.”

  Eli’s gaze flitted between the phone and the road, disbelief making his blood run cold.

  Surely she had not just said what he thought she said. Please God, tell him she wasn’t on her way to the hospital.

  He tried to swallow past the lump in his throat, his entire desolate future without Nikki-Raine passing in front of him. Bile rose and he forced it back. Spots swam in his vision. He’d never make it there in time.

  * * *

  He dropped his chin to his chest the minute he saw the bitch. She stood next to one of the curtained-off ER cubicles. His heart thumped and he nearly spilled the black sludge some of his co-workers referred to as coffee. Next to him, the first-year resident he’d been walking with droned on. He tuned the kid out.

  Fuck her for being here and disrupting his inner sanctum, his world. Stupid, stupid female. Since the moment he’d seen her face on the TV he’d searched for her and gotten nothing. Not even his mole had been able to track her down. He cursed the day he’d missed his golden opportunity. The sun, the angle, the back windshield had all prevented him from severing her head from her neck with a well-placed, high-caliber bullet. He wouldn’t even think about the fact he’d missed her the first time either.